The famous Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris, traditional site for the New Year's celebration, is to wear mourning Friday evening to pay tribute to victims in Asian tsunamis, announced Thursday the City Hall of Paris.

Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe "hoped that the Champs-Elysees Avenue and the Concorde Square will wear in mourning to pay homageto victims of the earthquake that swept across 11 Southeast Aisan countries," said the City Hall in a statement.

Some black belts of 2.6 meters long and 30 centimeters large will be hung on 400 trees of "the world's most beautiful avenue" and 80 candelabras on the Concorde Square at one end of the Avenue,the statement said.

"This initiative symbolizes Paris' solidarity with all the peoples stricken by the tragedy," it added.

The Champs-Elysees Avenue receives every year some hundreds of thousands of Paris citizens and tourists from allover the world tocelebrate the New Year. There were 450,000 people on Dec. 31, 2003on the Avenue, according to the City Hall.

An 8.9-magnitude underwater earthquake struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Sunday morning. The quake and its aftershocks triggered tsunamis which hit India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and four other Asian countries. The overall death toll from the disasters has surpassed 125,000.

Source: Xinhua